The terrorist who stabbed Har Bracha resident Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal to death outside Ariel on Monday has been identified as Abed el-Hakim Adel Asi, 19, a resident of the central Israeli town of Jaffa.
Asi pounced on Ben-Gal at a hitchhiking stop outside the city of Ariel in Samaria mid-day Monday and stabbed him repeatedly before fleeing. Israeli authorities were hunting for Asi, who is still at large.
A nearby security camera recorded the attack that killed Ben-Gal, a rabbi and father of four from the Samarian settlement of Har Bracha, near Nablus. The IDF believes Asi escaped to one of the villages nearby.
The incident began shortly before 2:30 p.m. as Ben-Gal waited at the Ariel Junction stop, heading for Tapuach Junction. He was trying to catch a ride to his nephew's circumcision ceremony.
In the security camera footage, Asi is seen crossing the road and attacking Ben-Gal without warning. Even though Asi stabbed Ben-Gal in the throat, Ben-Gal managed to throw his assailant off and begin fleeing. He crossed the road and approached a passing bus, yelling, "Attack, attack! They stabbed me."
The terrorist managed to stab Ben-Gal several more times before he collapsed on the pavement. An off-duty IDF officer driving his car through the area witnessed the incident and sped up his car and rammed Asi, who fell over. However, the attacker managed to get back up and flee the scene.
Civilian bystanders immediately began administering first aid to the victim, who had sustained critical injuries to his upper body. They were then joined by a soldier and an officer.
The Magen David Adom emergency medical team that arrived on the scene tried to resuscitate Ben-Gal. Shai Amichai, one of the paramedics, said that he "saw a bus and next to it, on the pedestrian crossing, was a man in his thirties lying unconscious with stab wounds to his upper body. We immediately began life-saving medical treatment, including artificial respiration and tried to stop the bleeding."
Ben-Gal was evacuated in critical condition to Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva. His family quickly arrived at the hospital, where the medical team informed them that Ben-Gal had passed away.
Employees of Shanti House in Tel Aviv, an organization that works with underprivileged and troubled youth, said they knew the terrorist.
"He was admitted here over a year ago for a short period of several weeks," Shanti House said in a statement. "He arrived with blue [Israeli] identification papers that were examined by authorized individuals and deemed legitimate. Abed left Shanti House after we forbade him from traveling regularly to Nablus, as we suspected he was being taken advantage of by hostile individuals."
Asi's mother is an Arab Israeli originally from Haifa who apparently now lives in Jaffa. His father is a Palestinian from Nablus who holds a blue Israeli identity card granting him residency.
Asi's mother on Tuesday issued a call for him to turn himself in to the Israeli authorities.
The knife used to stab Ben-Gal was left behind at the scene. Checkpoints were erected in the area around the attack and in neighboring villages, where the terrorist is believed to be hiding.
As part of efforts to locate the terrorist, who is known now to have split his time between the Palestinian territories and Israel because the terrorist is an Israeli citizen, the Shin Bet security agency launched an intelligence-gathering investigation. IDF officials said they believed it was only a matter of time before the terrorist would be apprehended.
